Helping Kids Cope with Anxiety and Depression

By Terri Akman

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Anxiety and depression don’t only affect adults. Learn the warning signs and how to get treatment if your child struggles with one of these disorders.

Facts & figures

Twelve-year-old Sarah (not her real name) began getting unexplained stomachaches and headaches. She asked her parents to let her stay home from school on those days. While home, she watched TV, worked diligently on her iPad to complete the work she missed and seemed fine until bedtime, when she’d complain of illness again and her parents would hear her tossing and turning during the night.

Like many kids, Sarah’s ailments stemmed from anxiety. “Over the years, I’ve seen anxiety increasing,” says Larry Osborne, sixth-grade guidance counselor at Voorhees Middle School in Voorhees, NJ. “The world that we live in is very different. The kids have the world at their fingertips with smartphones and iPads, but their readiness is not quite there yet.”

While it may seem that more kids today are depressed than ever before, that’s not necessarily the case. “We have a better understanding of pediatric depression, so we are able to catch the kids who, in the past, we weren’t catching,” says Lewis. Even preschoolers can be depressed, but now they can be helped at a much younger age.

Causes

Combine peer pressure, academic stress and bullying, much of it being played out on social media, and an anxiety problem can occur, “Especially when social media is not being monitored by the parents or guardians in their lives,” says Osborne.

“There’s a strong genetic component to depression,” adds Lewis. “So kids who have a family history of depression are at a greater risk. There is also a brain chemistry piece, though we don’t know the exact biological cause.”

Signs

“Kids are good at hiding anxiety,” cautions Osborne. Watch for these signs that could indicate anxiety, depression or both:

Interrupted sleep or sleeping too much

Unexplained physical ailments like stomach and headaches

Resistance to going to school or social events

Anxious thoughts and behaviors

Restlessness

Sad or irritable moods for much of

the day for many days a week

Withdrawing from people and

things they ordinarily enjoy

Sharp decline in grades

Self-harm

See page 2 for treatment options for anxiety and depression, and how to identify a suicide risk.